Of Nightmares and Trust
by DiscoSludge
Summary: A small one-shot that focuses on that brief period of training time before the Fischer Job. Ariadne and Arthur have short, sweet discussions. She makes them last.


**(a/n): So I decided that I had to do this. It wasn't just something that I should do. I had to do it. Ahem, anyway I hope you enjoy...**

**Disclaimer: I am in no way, shape, or form the owner of Inception. That title would go to the brilliant Christopher Nolan. **

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><p>Arthur had this odd tendency to always walk fast. It wasn't as if he was trying to get anywhere quicker than he needed to go, he just liked to walk fast. Ariadne took notice to this. She also noticed how his face was always clean-shaven and the distinct way he straightened his tie every few minutes. Ariadne hated to admit that she noticed and watched carefully for these little things, but she most definitely did.<p>

It was a regular day. Regular as regular could be for them at the time perhaps, but regular nonetheless. The everyday schedule consisted of training and prepping their minds for the upcoming "Fischer Heist". The pressure of the situation hadn't really reared itself yet so there was an eerie calm about the warehouse at night. An eerie calm that Ariadne reveled in. Cobb had left already. He had been kind(a certain sort of Cobb-original kindness, mind you) and offered Ariadne a ride home. She had declined politely, instead insisting on staying back and working on some floor plans. That was a lie of course.

Ariadne knew better than to lie about things. She hated lying. It had this sort of way of making you feel like you're chipping away at that connection between you and the other person. Like you were betraying their trust. But sometimes, she just had to do it.

This dream was different, however, and she realized that a mere two seconds in. It was a normal city-scape yes, but there were people. Not just a normal amount of people either. Copious amounts of people just flooding from every direction. They all wore suits and gave her looks. Each look sent a shiver down her spine, and not the good kind either. She felt the urge to run. It was an eager, rushed urge and not an exhilarated, excited urge like it usually was. Not that she felt urges to run on random occasions. Only in her dream.

People nudged and bumped poor Ariadne as she rushed through the crowd. This didn't feel lucid. It felt fuzzy, like she was wearing a wrong prescriptions. Skyscrapers and street-signs blurred past her as her feet gained momentum. Hands-no..._things _began clutching at her from all directions and she whimpered as she struggled through them. But she knew what to do in this situation. She had been trained for this. All she had to do was think them away. The hands didn't have to be there. It was her dream. There didn't have to be anyone trying to grab at her, or push her, or hurt her. All she had to do was think it away. Think. Think. Ariadne kept running until she was suddenly stopped by a ledge. All of the skyscrapers stopped and below her was utter blackness. This was _not _a normal dream. In normal dreams there was no abyss of darkness. Oceans maybe, but not this.

Then it was all so sudden. They were dragging her and clutching her and clawing at her. Ariadne didn't know how to react. These weren't angry projections. But what were they? She stumbled and screamed as she clenched her eyes shut and gasped. Then it was all black.

"Hey, it's okay." Somebody was shaking her. And if she was a good judge of voice, then she knew exactly who that somebody was. Ariadne's eyes creaked open as she looked over at the man whose hand so gracefully rested on her shoulder. She took in his tired eyes, his straight tie, his perfectly-in-place hair. Arthur.

"I-I don't know what happened." Ariadne found herself tripping up over the words. The tension of the dream carried over into her reality. Arthur studied her face quietly for a moment before cocking his head to the side a little bit.

"Well it's over now." And perhaps it was all in the heat of the moment, but Ariadne could have sworn that she heard a hint of comfort in his tone. That was probably carefully calculated though. Everything he did was usually that way. Ariadne gave him a confirming nod.

A few minutes passed in silence as Arthur shuffled around and headed back towards his desk. Ariadne watched him carefully. She watched the way that his forehead creased as he sat down and watched as his eyes seemed to magically get lighter when he looked back up at her.

"Can you tell me what happened in your dream?" He asked quietly, and it was almost as if there was some sort of strange, invisible barrier between them. Ariadne felt the sudden need to break the barrier. Arthur was so...valuable. Ugh, who was she kidding? She had feelings. Feelings that got in the way of everything. Why did he have to be so...infuriating?

"Oh...um," Ariadne hadn't answered yet. "Well, I was in this city. There were skyscrapers and you know, the usual city stuff," She hesitated. Maybe this wasn't normal. Was it normal to have dreams like this after all of their training. Arthur raised his eyebrows and Ariadne continued on. "There were tons of people though. Everything was kind of fuzzy too I guess. And all of the sudden, they were all grabbing me and scratching me. I tried to run and y'know, it worked for a while before I got to this cliff. That's when you woke me up." Ariadne gauged his face for a reaction. It remained that complacent mask that Ariadne had grown to know so well.

Arthur was silent for a few seconds, his eyes focused calmly on her's.

"That's totally normal." A faded smile took shape on his face and Ariadne felt a sweeping relief go through her. "You see, when we train we open up a new invulnerability for odd dreams. They'll all come rushing to you at once but before you know it they'll be gone. You may not want them now, but you will later." Arthur shrugged a shoulder as he stood up and walked over to her on the lawn chair. He offered a hand to help her.

Why did he always make her feel like such a giddy school-girl?

"Thanks." Ariadne mumbled as he helped her up. "For everything I mean. Waking me up and explaining things." She shrugged and offered a friendly smile. Arthur nodded. It was curt and professional. Was there ever a time when he wasn't being so uptight? Ariadne found herself asking this question constantly. She thought of the barrier as he turned around to go back to his desk.

"Um," Ariadne said. Arthur stopped and strained his neck to look back at her over his shoulder. Oh how she hated when he did that. "Why are you here so late?" She had really wanted to know. It was a viable question. Arthur turned around and looked at her.

"I should be asking you the same thing." There was something about the tone of his voice that made Ariadne's stomach flutter like a little girl's. She hated this. Didn't he know what he did to her? It was a immature, little crush and she couldn't get over it. Why couldn't she get over it?

"I just wanted to explore my own dreams a little, forgive me for being curious." Ariadne was thankful that her snark never left her, especially in her times of need. Times like this one. Arthur let out a dry chuckle.

"Ah, I always forget that you're new at this," Arthur walked over to one of the windows and looked out it. Ariadne found herself following him. That was another weird thing about Arthur. He had this weird tendency to always make others follow him during conversations. Or at least, Ariadne felt the need to. Maybe it was her childish crush getting in the way. Again. "You're very good at your job. It's hard to believe that you only joined a week or two ago."

Ariadne wasn't sure how to feel about this statement. Her mind told her to register it as a friendly compliment and a colleague camaraderie. Her stomach wasn't saying anything. It was too busy fluttering like a mad rabbit on cocaine.

"Thanks." Her words seemed to empty next to his. Like they didn't mean anything. But she truly, deeply meant it. She always did. Ariadne rarely said things she didn't mean. "So are you gonna tell me why you were here?" She crossed her arms and thanked again that she was snarky. Snarky at all the right times. It was the perfect cover-up.

"I like to come here late at night, Arthur shrugged and adjusted his tie. Ariadne had to bite back a smirk. She knew that he was going to do that. "It helps me think a little clearer."

"How come I never see you here?" Ariadne asked.

"Ah, so you admit you've been doing this a lot then?" Arthur smirked and his eyes shifted over to her. Ariadne frowned and scoffed.

"You have this weird habit of not answering my questions don't you?" Ariadne took her turn to smirk and looked next to her at him. A smirk played across his features.

"If you really want to know," Arthur's face rebounded back to seriousness in a flash and he cleared his throat. "I haven't been here late in a while. I've been too busy handling...other things." Arthur's face grew dark as he mentioned it.

"Other things?" Ariadne asked.

"Family issues. Nothing that concerns the mission. I prefer to leave my personal life back home." Arthur offered and empty smile before returning his gaze back out the window. Ariadne wished she could help.

"Well, if you ever want to talk about it..." Ariadne didn't realize what she was saying but as soon as she had said it she was glad she did. "You can come to me." She realized how sappy that sounded and backtracked. "I mean you could talk to Cobb too I guess, even Eames really. Heck, you could probably talk to Yusuf about it, I'm sure he'd liste-"

"Ariadne." Her name sounded so cherished, so pretty on his tongue. Ariadne felt a flush creep up her cheeks. Arthur turned to face her. She looked up at him cautiously and immediately regretted it. He was so strapping-ly handsome. Sometimes she hated to sound like a ridiculous teenage girl head-over-heels with a guy she had only known for a short time. Sometimes she didn't care.

"Thank you. You'll be the first," Arthur smirked. "If I decide to talk to anyone about it." His sentence was choppy and cut off. Almost like he was hesitant. Ariadne smiled and let out an awkward chuckle.

Sometimes, Arthur surprised her. It never surprised her when he did things like hold the door open, open the door for her, or gentleman-like things in general. No, that never surprised her. What surprised her, however, was the little things like this. When he referenced her to being important. More important to him than the others. That was when he surprised her. Because it wasn't unnatural, nor was it a lie. And that was just fine with her.

**(a/n): I hope you enjoyed. I also hope that you didn't find it to be out of character. I tried to make them believable as possible. If you liked it, loved it, hated it(hopefully not) drop me a review! Tell me what I could do better next time! Thanks. :)**


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